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French vineyard robot has a vine time in Oregon wine country

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French inventor Christophe Millot taps instructions into his iPad for Wall-Ye-France, billed as the world's first robotic vineyard pruner. The device will be on display this week for a two-day conference in McMinnville showing off the latest in precision farming breakthroughs.
(Dana Tims/The Oregonian)

A shear-wielding contraption billed as the world’s first robotic vineyard pruner put on a show to an audience of about 50 winemakers and vineyard managers Monday in the hills above Carlton.

The robot, dubbed Wall-Ye-France by its French inventor, Christophe Millot, moved up a long vineyard row, extending its clippered “hand” to make a precise but imaginary cut.

Inadvertent damage done to one of the robot's infra-red sensing cameras prevented it from actually making a cut, putting a dent in the demonstration.

“It can work 12 hours a day and never make a mistake,” said Millot, who on Monday used an iPad to control the robot’s movements. “I have sold 30 of these so far to winemaking clients in France.”

The demonstration comes ahead of this week's Precision Farming Expo in McMinnville, which features discussions of agricultural uses for pilotless drones, “smart” irrigation systems and other innovations seen by some as integral to the future of Oregon farming.

“In California and some countries, precision ag systems represent an industry that’s just boiling over,” said conference organizer Jeff Lorton, Yamhill County’s economic development director. “We wanted folks up here to see what some of these things can do.”

Millot’s pruner is about the size of a lawnmower and equipped with three cameras as well as software that remembers every cut from season to season. One camera recognizes woody material and tells the robot to move in for the clip. Another, in the shear, guides the procedure itself.

Oregon winemaker Ken Wright, who owns the vineyard used for Monday's demonstration, said he was impressed by the technology. Pruning, however, isn’t the phase of the winemaking cycle for which he needs a robotic assist.

“I can get by with a crew of about 10 to 15 for pruning because it’s an extended process that takes place over about three months,” Wright said. “Harvest is where we need the help. Needing anywhere from 85 to 100 people in a single day is not unusual and our labor pool is both aging and diminishing.”

Wright paused to consider how big a breakthrough a robotic harvester would be. Not the type of mechanical harvester now in use that shakes grapes so hard they turn into soup, he said, but a light-handed cousin to Wall-Ye-France.

“It would be huge,” he said. “Whoever makes that machine will be a billionaire.”

Millot said he faces exactly the opposite situation in France, where the phenomenon of citizens pitching in to help harvest the year’s grape crop is an honored, ages-old tradition.

“You will never see these robotic harvesters in my country,” he said. “If there is a future for these devices, it is in the United States and other winegrowing countries.”

Both the harvester and the pruner sell for about $30,000.

“You work that out over a lifespan of 10 to 15 years,” Wright said, “and it makes perfect economic sense.”

With Millot currently set up to build new robots only upon request, it remains to be seen whether Wright and other U.S. winemakers view this particular robot as the answer to their respective harvesting futures.

Other vintners attending the demonstration said they were just as enthused about yet another robotic device Millot has developed for vineyard use.

It takes on the twin pestilences of late-season birds and deer, whose combined energies can decimate a vineyard almost overnight.

When the robot picks up an incoming bird at about 150 yards, it fends it off with a green, non-damaging laser. Entire flocks stay clear of vineyards equipped with the laser robots, Millot said.

At night, the device uses infrared sensors to spot intruding deer. When it does, it can hit speeds topping 15 mph to chase them away from the vines.

The Oregon Precision Farming Expo, being held at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, has already sold all of the 220 tickets available, Lorton said. The conference consists of two full days of individual presenters and precision ag forums.

Tickets, at $10 apiece, remain for Thursday’s public trade show at the same location.

As for Millot, he will pack up Wall-Ye-France late Wednesday and head for meetings next week with NASA officials in Texas. They want to hear what he has to say about flexible, easy-to-use robotic hands.

(This story has been edited to reflect the following correction: A story published April 1 about a robotic vineyard pruner overstated what the machine did and may have left the impression that the demonstration was successful. The device was less mobile than described and did no pruning because of damage inadvertently inflicted prior to the demonstration.)